Collin Vandewalle (‘25) intentionally tailored his time at SLIS to be an archivist; and after courses with Dr. Fritz that he described as “the foundation needed to be successful as an Archivist,” and co-curating alongside fellow SLIS alumnus Lindsey Moen “the University of Iowa’s Main Library Gallery Exhibit on J. N. ‘Ding’ Darling,” he graduated prepared.

Collin was hired after graduation to work for the University of Iowa on a term position as a support librarian.

After that year, he was hired again for another term position with the department, now working as a full-time archivist on the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry: “The collection holds over 70,000 artist books and art depicting this unique form of poetry. Right now, I am going through oversized flat materials like broadsides, limited edition prints, and exhibition posters. I never know what I am going to see next, and I love being able to share these pieces with students and researchers. I also feel like I am on the ‘archival frontier,’ as we try to incorporate art into archival description and organization with this large-scale collection.”

His advice to SLIS students is to “take as many opportunities as you can to get practical experience while you are in the SLIS program. Make sure to take a practicum or try and find an internship/student position in a library/special collections/archive. Even just applying to positions like that can open doors one might not expect.”

He also wants all UIowa students (or anyone visiting Iowa City) to know that the collection he co-curated with Lindsey is available to the public through the end of the semester!